Re: ANN: The Vehicle Sales Ontology - Cars, Bikes, Boats on the Web of Data - http://purl.org/vso/ns

Overall this ontology is just fine, highly suitable for its intended
purpose.  I do have one [hopefully] minor concern. Why is a kayak not a kind
of a boat? The classification in this ontology goes like this:

   - Watercraft
      - Boat
      - Kayak
      - Ship

The source of this (IHMO) mistake may be in the WIkipedia entry for
Watercraft <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watercraft>:

However, there are a number of
craft<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Craft_(vehicle)> which
many people would consider neither a ship nor a boat, such
as:canoes<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canoe>
, kayaks <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kayak>,
rafts<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raft>
, barges <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barge>,
catamarans<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catamaran>
, hydrofoils <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydrofoil>,
windsurfers<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windsurfer>
, surfboards <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surfboard> (when used as a paddle
board), jet skis <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Personal_watercraft>, underwater
robots <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robot>,
seaplanes<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seaplane>,
and torpedoes <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Torpedo>.


Contradictorily, the opening words in the definition of kayak in
Wikipedia<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kayak>clearly state that a
kayak is a boat:

A *kayak* (sometimes generalised as a *canoe*) is a small
human-powered boat<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boat> that
traditionally has a covered deck, and one or more cockpits, each seating
one paddler <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paddler> who strokes a
double-bladed paddle <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paddle>.

I have been a kayaker for 35 years, and every kayaker I know thinks and
speaks of their kayak as a kind of boat. In the US, most whitewater kayakers
consider themselves boaters.

What competency question justifies this classification?
What is an example of a kayak that is categorically not a boat?

Michael




On Mon, Aug 30, 2010 at 10:22 AM, Martin Hepp <
martin.hepp@ebusiness-unibw.org> wrote:

> Dear all:
>
> I am happy to announce the first mature release of the Vehicle Sales
> Ontology [1], a GoodRelations-compliant [2,3] Web vocabulary for
> - Cars,
> - Bikes,
> - Boats,
> - etc.
> on the Web of Data.
>
> It can be used by car listing sites, bike or canoe rental services and the
> like.
>
> In combination with
>
> - http://purl.org/goodrelations/v1#owns and
> - http://purl.org/goodrelations/v1#seeks ,
>
> it is also possible to expose ownership ("I own a Volkswagen Golf") as part
> of online identity data or purchasing interest ("I am looking for a canoe").
>
> The ontology recommends DBPedia resource URIs as predefined qualitative
> values as much as possible.
>
> Any feedback is very welcome.
>
> Best wishes
>
> Martin
> [1] http://purl.org/vso/ns
> [2] http://purl.org/goodrelations/v1
> [3] http://www.ebusiness-unibw.org/wiki/Own_GoodRelations_Vocabularies
>
>
> --------------------------------------------------------
> martin hepp
> e-mail:  mhepp@computer.org
> www:     http://www.heppnetz.de/
> skype:   mfhepp
> twitter: mfhepp
>
> Check out GoodRelations for E-Commerce on the Web of Linked Data!
> =================================================================
> * Project Main Page: http://purl.org/goodrelations/
> * Quickstart Guide for Developers: http://bit.ly/quickstart4gr
> * Vocabulary Reference: http://purl.org/goodrelations/v1
> * Developer's Wiki: http://www.ebusiness-unibw.org/wiki/GoodRelations
> * Examples: http://bit.ly/cookbook4gr
> * Presentations: http://bit.ly/grtalks
> * Videos: http://bit.ly/grvideos
>
>


-- 
Michael Uschold, PhD
   LinkedIn: http://tr.im/limfu
   Skype: UscholdM